TomVH: DB Wayne Morgan Update

I had a Wayne Morgan update today in the Extra section of the Weekly Update if you missed it. I wanted to do a quick follow up to that because I spoke with Wayne again tonight.

Originally the plan was for Morgan to make his decision at one of the All American games. He's not sure if he wants to play in the Under Armour or the Army game, but he wanted to make his decision at the game. That seems like it's starting to change.

I don't really have a date, but I feel like when it's time it's time. I could be soon, it could be any day. I'm just waiting for when I feel is best and when I feel comfortable. Most likely it's going to be before the season, probably around September. If not then, it will definitely be at the All American game.

We'll see when he decides to make it happen. The Michigan coaches have done an excellent job recruiting Morgan. His coaches have been very impressed.

According to Rivals, Reeves and Morgan are the same height...and Morgan is 3 pounds heavier. I agree that tall corners are nice, but I'm not sure what that has to do with Morgan, Reeves, and Richardson.

With all the corners we took in the last class, I don't think we need to be taking 3 plus a safety in 2012. Plus there's not really a 5-star, immediate-impact corner in the bunch, so it would be nice to spread out these scholarships so perhaps we could take a 5-star type in the coming years. You're talking about taking 7 corners over two classes. That's a lot.

If we go by everything the coaches are reported to have told the recruits (and that I can remember), we're at least on the hook for 1 QB, 4 more OL, 3 CBs. On top of the 11 commits we already have, that gives us a total of 19 commits when we officially have room for 17 IIRC.
In an ideal world, does anybody know how many DTs they are interested in signing? Safeties? RBs? A FB?

Well, there always seems to be a freshman or two who doesn't make it through fall camp, whether it's homesickness, a failure to qualify, etc. And there are several guys who will be up for a fifth year of eligibility who might not return.

I would want Richardson and Reeves. Since I believe we will take 3 db's, I really like Standifer and Wilson. Don't take this the wrong way, I really like Morgan too, but I think the other two fit our needs at safety better.

EDIT: What three would you take Magnus? If it was completely up to you and if you could explain why.

Wright fleetingly mentioned Michigan as a favorite earlier in the process...but now only seems to have eyes for ND and UGA. He's still (maybe?) visiting this summer so there's that..I wish highlights one him weren't so limited. They're quite impressive.

but I like all four more than a couple we took in last year's class. Plus I'm not really sure you can say it is seven corners since Morgan, Carter, and Taylor could all project to safety. Also with our recent record of DB attrition rate I wouldn't mind going after all four hard.

Now we all want tall corners? I would settle for a kid who was in position to make a play on the ball. That being said I think we are really splitting hairs when it comes to the corners we have offered, they are all pretty good. Standifer's video impressed me the most and Wilson is a true safety, those two would be my pick to join Richardson.

I expect that his timetable will advance should Richardson commit Thursday, and precipitously if Reeves follows suit soon after (as speculation indicates he might). Seems like Morgan doesn't want to be left out in the cold. The coaches have definitely done an excellent job thus far.

Richardson hit Reeves up on facebook the other day and said to inbox him his number because he needed to talk to him ASAP. If he goes blue then he could be telling Armani to join him or that the slots are going fast.

...has been, ahem...impressive. I am anxious to see the O-recruiting keep pace. Gunner Kiel would be huge, but so far the disparity is certainly staring us in the face. Of course for this year the needs are bigger on defense, but I hope when all is said and done with this class that we are somewhat balanced talent-wise on both sides in the 2012 class. (Shane Morris certainly +1 for the offense in '13). Course we won our last nat'l championship with a sweet D and a modest offense.

EDIT: The reason is that the class size is only 17 right now. And while I expect that it will get bigger, I doubt it will reach 25. With the size of classes that some of those southern schools take (28, 30, 33), it's tough to break into the top 5.

Well we aren't going to beat Alabama, Florida State or Texas. Period. As for the other schools that have great recruiting classes so far and are in on a lot of other top recruits heres a quick list: Florida, Texas A&M, Ohio State, LSU, Notre Dame, USC, Oregon, Oklahoma State and us. So to get into the top 5 seems quite unlikely. As for the top 10, it will depend more on how many teams like Auburn and Clemson come out of no where and sign a bunch of players, and also how many guys we end up taking. No matter what though our coaches are doing an excellent job of recruiting and I love everything i have heard from other coaches, recruits, and recruits parents about out coaching staff so thats a good sign for years to come. This is a good bunch of teams to be on a list with and at the end of the day there isn't much difference between 6th, 9th or 12th on the 3 different main sites. Just depends on what they put more emphasis on and a few guys that they disagree majorly on.

less attention he gets from the recruiting service/networks especially if he is a boarderline 3/4 star. If the kid is a solid 4 or 5 star and he commits early, this attention phenomenon is less prominent. Sounds dumb but I have seen it every year since I have followed recruiting (about 5 yrs). We will likely have a few of the kids that fall into the former category. Which means that the recruiting class rank may not be as high as we think it should be.

I also think that our recruiting needs may limit the final ranking. Right now we need OL. This position groups is tough to rank ( as admitted by recruiting guru's) and there are many OL that have the potential to be good, but don't have all the nuances of technique down so they are given a 3 star ranking (unless they are completely dominant. See Will Campbell ). So, we may end up with several 3-star OL prospects with a lot of potential. I think a better indicator of an OL's potential is his offer list (ie. If Wisconsin, Iowa, and Nebraska type schools are on the kids list, chances are he is pretty damn good).

At the end of the day, we may end up with a class that may fall just outside the top 10. If we land guys like Gunner Kiel, a couple of 4-star CB's and DT's, a 4-star or higher WR and RB, then we will likely be safely in the top 10. If we miss on any of those, then we may be outisde the top 10.

I hear this argument all the time, and I believe it could be true. I'm wondering if anyone has done a study to prove it. I think the numbers are all there. One would just have to correlate the change + or - from early rankings to the time that they commit.

Early commits have little reason to continue to camp, which is where many scouts evaluate prospects. There is generally a lot of movement after these evaluations (similar to basketball, save they have the AAU circuit also), and that is why others jump while technically the commits "maintain" their original ranking.

You also see a lot of movement after the AA games, where they are evaluated against top competition. We've a few AA invitees so am curious to see how their rankings are affected.